The Marin/Sonoma Mosquito and Vector Control District and the West Marin Mosquito Council are poised to produce a draft legal agreement that would determine what pesticides the district could use in West Marin to prevent outbreaks. The current agreement—which was signed in 2005 and extended multiple times—expires at the end of June. “Hopefully we’ll be able to reach an agreement,” said Phil Smith, the district’s manager. “Nothing is firm yet or set in stone, but the talks have been positive.” Since January, Supervisor Steve Kinsey has facilitated meetings between the district and the council, and both sides have roundly praised his involvement. But sources privy to the talks said the district’s insistence on using small amounts of an insecticide known as methoprene has remained a divisive point. Methoprene, which some studies have shown to be toxic to fish and which members of the mosquito council adamantly oppose, has been kept out of West Marin for a decade under the agreement. Yet the district has called for small applications in West Marin, calling it the most effective means of combating adult mosquito populations. Citing a University of California, Davis, report that the use of methoprene in septic tanks “will not cause any significant adverse environmental effects,” a district subcommittee in November presented a resolution that would have permitted its use in West Marin septic systems starting this year. District trustees shot down that resolution by a 6-12 vote, in large part due to efforts by West Marin’s representative on the board, Fred Smith, to buy time for a new agreement. (Mr. Smith stepped down from the board at the beginning of this year, when he moved out of West Marin, and on Tuesday, county supervisors appointed Point Reyes Station resident Terry Pebbles to fill the at-large seat he vacated.) Bolinas resident Grace Godino, who heads the council, echoed Phil Smith’s hopes for a speedy accord. “The goal is to come up with a document that could be turned into some sort of legal agreement,” she said. “I’m not quite sure how that would work, but we’d like to get it done by May.” This week, the district announced that its technicians have been responding to a record number of service calls—up 46 percent from this time last year. Staff have observed substantial populations of salt marsh and flood water mosquito species spawning quicker than usual in places like Tomales Bay and Bolinas Lagoon.